Top Italian Senator Admits Iran’s Right to Use N. Energy

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Italian senator said on Saturday that his country respects Iran’s right to enjoy peaceful nuclear energy.

“Italy completely recognizes the Islamic Republic of Iran’s right to use the nuclear energy,” Chairman of the Italian Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Pier Ferdinando Casini said on Saturday evening.

He made the comments in a meeting with Chairman of Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi, here in Tehran.

Heading a 5-member Italian parliamentary delegation, Casini has started a three-day visit to Iran on Friday.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Italian senator touched on the crisis in Syria, saying his country supports the presence of Iran in the upcoming Geneva 2 peace conference that aims to find a way out of the crisis in the Arab country.

Earlier on November 25, 2013, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced that the much delayed Geneva 2 Conference on Syria will be held on January 22, 2014.

The conference would bring representatives from Syria's government and elements of the opposition to negotiate an end to the fighting that has raged on since March 2011.

Boroujerdi, for his part, pointed to the status quo in the Middle East, saying cooperation and dialogue between Iran and the European countries, including Italy, on counterterrorism could help restore peace and stability in the region.

He also expressed the Iranian parliament’s willingness to develop political, economic and cultural relations with Italy, saying “good ties” with the world constitutes the pillar of Iran’s foreign policy.

The Italian delegation’s visit to Iran comes less than two weeks after Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino travelled to Tehran on December 21 for an official visit to hold talks with the Iranian authorities.

Heading a high-ranking delegation, Bonino met her Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif and President Hassan Rouhani in her two-day long visit to Iran.

Bonino’s visit came after Zarif travelled to Rome in November at the invitation of his Italian counterpart to exchange views on regional and international matters.

She was the first Italian high-ranking official to visit Iran after almost ten years.